Paganism
Guest Column: Returning to Brigid in the Midst of Loss
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In a special Imbolc piece, guest columnist Sheri Barker shares her story of grief after the passing of her daughter and her return to the comfort of the goddess Brigid.
The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/brigid/page/3)
In a special Imbolc piece, guest columnist Sheri Barker shares her story of grief after the passing of her daughter and her return to the comfort of the goddess Brigid.
Today we look at the most recent incarnation of Brigid’s Flame burns brightly in Kildare, Ireland, tended by Sister Mary Teresa Cullen of Brigidine Sisters in Solas Bhride, as well as how Imbolc is celebrated around the world.
Spotlight on Tradition
Segomâros Widugeni is a leader in Gaulish Polytheism and has been for almost two decades. He hold two Master’s Degrees, one in 20th Century German History and another in Library Science, and speaks two Celtic languages. He lives with his wife in the woods of rural Central Florida. His new book, Ancient Fires: an Introduction to Gaulish Polytheism, will be released soon. In the evening, as twilight descends over the forest, I repair to my shrine room.
IRELAND –Voters in the Republic of Ireland came out in force this week to roll back the clock to 1983 – a time before abortions were effectively banned in this heavily Roman Catholic country. The “once in a generation vote,” as it was framed by prime minister Leo Varadkar, brought out people across the age spectrum to support the repeal; the movement even garnered the support of Brigid. Article 40.3.3 of the Irish constitution establishes “the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother,” calls for that right to life to be vigorously defended. Under the language approved by voters with a two-to-one margin, the article now reads, “Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.” It will fall to legislators to decide what new laws to that end actually get passed.
TWH — The goddess Brigid is not a jealous goddess – at least the Irish/Celtic goddess of poetry, healing and smith craft is not such a deity on Land and Legend, the latest album by the Australian band Spiral Dance. “I know Brigid’s walking with me when the wild flowers have come,” the Australian-born Adrienne Piggott sings on “Goddess of the Southern Land.” The lyrics continue with “and the wattle flowers into life the color of the sun. In misty mountain bush land the smell of eucalyptus after rain and bark fall signal that it’s time to celebrate Beltane.”
As the croaking drone of a didgeridoo and gentle djembe and guitar open the song which opens the CD, Piggott unveils a confession: despite remaining rooted to her ancestors in the British Isles and to Brigid, she is on a vision quest to discover and connect to a new goddess: the “rainbow serpent mother protector of the land” where Piggott lives in the Mount Lofty Ranges near Adelaide Hills in South Australia. The tone of Spiral Dance’s aptly-titled, mesmerizing ninth album is set from the start: connecting, or staying connected, to land and legend in the midst of an increasingly mobile global culture, in an age when a modern-day shaman’s dance is a mundane reality for so many humans who literally walk — or jet — between two worlds. It’s a topic of deep import for Pagans, polytheists and members of earth-based religions, especially those in the United States.
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